A Cynic's Admiration
by MsDubstep
Summary: Hetty receives a mysterious gift that..perplexes her to say the least. She is rather concerned, but Callen has a feeling he knows what's really going on.


**(Author's Note: Soooo..I was a bit hesitant to post this. But the plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone. Thank you to my beta, NCISNewbie, for indulging my rather off the wall idea and helping me along.)****  
**

Henrietta Lange walked into her office, about to brew her morning tea. She was supposed to get a call from Director Vance in about ten minutes, so any time for herself was precious.

Agent Callen and his team were in a meeting out in the bullpen, so they wouldn't be barging in any time soon. Granger was in San Diego checking in on the field office there. He had his own business to tend to, and the timing of his departure was perfect. The team wasn't very happy with him after the hostage situation with Nell. The last thing Callen wanted was to be around him right now, and Hetty tried to think of a reason to oppose Callen, but she could find none.

Sitting at her desk, she took a sip of tea, taking a glance at her flowers. She admired the beautiful tulips still fresh in the crystal vase.

But something didn't seem right. She looked at the flowers more closely. The tulips she had on her desk looked as if they were fresh picked just a day or two ago. They were too fresh. The flowers she had before were starting to show their age, with signs of wilt showing around the petals, and the stems drooping ever so slightly. Another thing she almost missed was the tag hanging around the vase. She picked the tag up, and her heart twisted.

_'To a beautiful, bold woman. Happy Valentine's Day.'_

Hetty sat down at her desk, letting her tea go cold, suddenly losing interest in it. Who could possibly want to send her flowers? How did they get here? Her healthy sense of paranoia kicked in immediately.

She immediately went out to the bullpen where Callen and the others were just wrapping up.

"Ms. Jones. You and Mr. Callen are needed in my office right away." Callen and Nell nodded and followed Hetty to her office.

After they arrived, Hetty put on a pair of thick latex gloves and picked up the vase.

"This was in my office when I got here." Hetty informed them. Nell took Hetty's cue and put on a pair of gloves as well. Delicately, she took the tag and examined it, biting her lip in puzzlement. Callen read the tag over Nell's shoulder and had a different reaction. He smirked.

The bastard smirked.

"This is not in the slightest amusing, Mr. Callen." She looked at him with her best stern face and made Callen's smirk disappear in a flash.

"Of course, " he said quickly with a nod.

"What do you want us to do?" Nell still looked quite puzzled.

"I believe we have machinery that detects fingerprints, do we not?"

"Right." Nell nodded. "I'll check for any that I can find. I'll also have Eric look through the camera footage from the last twenty-four hours."

Taking the vase, she left the office. Callen was left standing there.

"I'm guessing you want me to question everyone in OSP about this?" Callen asked, the hint of amusement still in his eyes.

"Mr. Callen, this could be a security breach," she replied adamantly.

"Yes, it very well could be." Callen agreed. "But we need to see what Nell and Eric find first. I'll keep you informed."

"Thank you Mr. Callen." Hetty nodded. "I'm glad to see you're taking this seriously."

"Of course, it could just be that you have a secret admirer."

"Oh, you just couldn't resist, could you?" Hetty sighed.

"Hey, I'm just saying " Callen held his hands up in defense. "You make more of an impact around here than you realize."

"I'm not taking any chances." Hetty emphasized.

"I understand." Callen nodded again. "But this could be nothing. I'm not ruling that out."

Her phone rang, interrupting their conversation.

"That would be Director Vance," she informed Callen. "You now have double the work to do and so do I, so shoo!"

Callen made haste of her office while Hetty picked up. She was grateful for the director's call more than ever. Secret admirer? She was too old for that nonsense. The sooner this was resolved, the better.


End file.
